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Tuesday, 20 July 2010

Al Houthi rebels kill tribal chief, son and four bodyguards

By Nasser Arrabyee,21/07/2010A total of six tribesmen were killed in an ambush made by Al Houthi rebels north of the country, said the official news agency Saba on Wednesday.

“Sheikh Zaidan Al Maknay and his son and four of his bodyguards were martyred in an ambush made by Al Houthi rebels in Manbah area,” the agency quoted unidentified official as saying.

On Tuesday the MPs of Sa’ada province started a sit-in inside the Parliament to demand the government to take its responsibility for stopping the assassinations of the Al Houthi rebels against the tribesmen who cooperated with the government in the war. A total of seven members of parliament from Sa’ada province started Tuesday a sit-in inside the parliament in protest over what they called assassinations by Al Houthi rebels against tribesmen loyal to the government.

They said they would stay inside the parliament until the government takes its responsibility in protecting the citizens of Sa’ada from Al Houthi rebels.

“We will stay here until the government takes its responsibility for protecting the people of Sa’ada from Al Houthi assassinations ,” said the MP, Othman Mujali who was speaking in the Tuesday Parliament session in the name of the Sa’ada MPs.

“Al Houthi rebels are fighting against our colleague MP, Shiekh Sagheer bin Azeez and blockading him and his tribe in his village in Harf Sufyan,” he said, in a reference to ongoing battles between Al Houthi rebels and tribesmen since Friday July16th.

The battles started earlier this after Al Houthi rebels accused the army and tribesmen of the MP bin Azeez of killing three and injuring five others of their supporters in an ambush. Two more MPs from the ruling party, Sakhr Al Wajeeh, and Abdul Azeex Jubari, said they would participate in the sit-in in solidarity with their colleagues from Sa’ada.

On his part, the spokesman of Al Houthi rebels denied any assassinations against tribesmen loyal to the government.

“What’s happening now in Harf Sufyan is not assassinations but it is clashes between our people and the army,” said the spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salm in a statement sent to local media.Commenting on the sit-in of the Sa’ada MPs, Abdul Salm said, “ We wish if the MPs have made this sit-in to demand the release of the sons of Sa’ada and to demand the reconstruction of war-torn Sa’ada.”

Local sources from Harf Sufyan confirmed that fierce battles between Al Houthi rebels and tribesmen of bin Azeez are still going on until late Tuesday. Tens from both sides were killed and injured. The road between Sana’a and Sa’ada was blocked because of the clashes.